1. Field of the Invention
The invention is in the field of medical equipment, and especially deals with a cap of a medicine fluid bottle enabling fixing the consumed dose as prescribed by a doctor and using the prescribed dose by a patient.
2. Description of Related Art
The present invention relates to a liquid measuring dispenser and, more particularly, to a measuring dispensing cap for measuring a desired and precise amount of liquid medicine. Liquid dispensers are commonly used in domestic situations such as adding a liquid detergent to a washing machine or a dishwasher, but are more commonly known for pouring of liquid medicine.
In taking liquid medicine it is desired to measure the quantity taken such that it fits the doctor's prescription. To this aim, people have measuring accessories like syringes, spoons and cups in their home. Nevertheless, pouring of liquid medicine often entails inaccuracy and spillage. In addition, children sometimes insist on taking the medicine themselves. Also, upon travelling the accessories may be forgotten, which makes taking the liquid medicine as prescribed almost impossible. Note that taking the prescribed medicine quantity is of utmost importance. Over 500,000 kids in US alone are hurt by taking overdosed medicine, a result of erroneous prescriptions, forgetting the right prescription, and using inappropriate measuring accessories. To overcome these drawbacks, it is provided a self-contained and accurate dispenser which can be integrated with the medicine bottle, without use of any additional accessories. Moreover, the desired device should have markings for the medicine quantity, thus allowing a user to have confidence in the quantity taken.
There are many types of pre-measured liquid dispensers existing in the prior art. Numerous patents describe various types of metering dispensing caps with various designs. Most common types of dispensers have separate storage and dispensing chambers. These dispensers are usually constructed of either rigid or deformable walls. Dispensers of deformable walls usually include a conduit tube enabling liquid to pass from the lower reservoir to the metered dispensing cap.
Alternatively, an inversion type dispenser relies on the force of gravity to transfer liquid from the storage chamber to the dispensing chamber.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,330,081 describes a portion measuring device having a first flexible reservoir capable of holding large volume, and a handle is provided to relieve operator fatigue. The second portion measuring reservoir has a rotatable closure with a pouring spout or opening. Applying pressure to the sidewalls of the first reservoir causes the sidewalls to flex and therefore causes fluid to travel up through the conduit tube to the second reservoir. Pressure is applied until the desired amount of fluid is in the cup-shaped reservoir. A pouring spout is provided so that the user may pour the fluid out of the cup-shaped reservoir.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,330,960 describes a flexible container for dispensing a precise dosage of liquids with a child-resistant cap. The container comprises an upper liquid reservoir and a lower liquid reservoir separated by a gasket. When applying pressure on the lower reservoir the contents of the container are forced up a longitudinal tube into the upper reservoir. When decreasing the pressure from container wall, liquid in the upper reservoir drains back to the lower reservoir until reaching the desired dosage. Once reaching the desired dosage, the bottle is inverted near a vertical position. In this position the lower end of the longitudinal tube is no longer submerged in liquid. Then, applying pressure on container wall forces the air into the tube such that sufficient pressure is developed in dispensing liquid out of the dispensing tip.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,584,420 describes a liquid dispenser for dispensing pre-measured quantities of liquid. The dispenser has a nozzle with an inlet end that attaches to a bottle, and an outlet end that engages with a tubular dispensing chamber. A removable outer cap is located at the top of the chamber to create a liquid tight seal. In the closed position, the nozzle is interlocked with the opening in the tubular dispensing chamber in order to prevent the flow of liquid from the bottle to the chamber. In order to allow liquid to pass from the bottle to the dispensing chamber, the tubular dispensing chamber is retracted from the nozzle in the upward direction. Once an opening occurs the bottle is inverted to allow liquid to fill the dispensing chamber. Once the chamber is filled, the chamber is pushed back down onto the nozzle to close the passage way, thus preventing liquid from draining back to the bottle. The metered liquid can be either stored at the dispensing chamber or the outer cap can be removed and the liquid can be dispensed.
While the prior art dispensers accomplish a means of dispensing a measured amount liquid, they withhold several drawbacks. Dispensers of flexible container of deformable walls require constant pressure in order to obtain the desired amount and therefore entail the user with fatigue and cumbersome that may result in inaccuracy. In addition, the dispenser described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,584,420 may result in a pre-measured amount of liquid by the means of inversion, but only disclose the means for dispensing a fixed amount of liquids and not an interchangeable amount. Furthermore, the mechanism of the dispenser is cumbersome, and does not provide a simple use. One can imagine the scenario where a person wakes up in the middle of the night, wishing to consume a given liquid medicine, and has to struggle by squeezing the dispenser and paying careful attention in order to obtain the precise amount of liquid. It is therefore the object of the present invention to overcome these disadvantages and to provide an easy, safe and accurate liquid dispenser that is simple for use, easy to manufacture and simple in structure.